Saksham shook his head embarrassedly and said, "No, I won't! I promise I won't forget this time."
Anita smiled with satisfaction and said, "Alright. I will wait for you at the school gate."
Then, they both went to their class and sat down at their respective seats. Their Math teacher came and started the lecture. Saksham was sitting in the class but his mind was wandering elsewhere. He was thinking about what he would do on the way to Anitha's home. What should they talk? Well, they both kind of like silence but that doesn't mean that they never talk. In this way, Saksham spent his whole day till the end of the school.
When he heard the bell ringing, he looked at Anitha. Feeling that someone was watching, Anitha turned and saw Saksham staring at her. She looked at him with a questioning gaze. Saksham grinned at her as if saying that 'look I didn't forget. I will wait for you at the school gate.' No one except Anitha could understand all this with just his eyes. So, she also stuck out her tongue and made faces at him meaning 'Looks like you have learned your lesson. I will forgive you for that day.'
Soon, everyone packed their bags and left the classroom. After about 5 minutes, Saksham saw Anitha standing at the school gate, waiting for him. He hurried towards her and when he reached her, Anitha smiled at him saying, "Shall we go?"
"Yeah. Let's go." Saksham replied.
Then, they both made their way towards Anitha's home. Along the way, Saksham asked, "What are you going to do after the final examinations? Have you already thought about any particular College?"
Anitha put a finger at the corner of her mouth as she looked up, "Well, with how my grades are right now, it shouldn't really be a problem for me to be accepted into Delhi University. My parents also want me to go there. But I want to pursue Mechanical Engineering, so I will have to enroll in IIT. I don't have any problems with Delhi University, but they don't offer Engineering courses. So, I have to good enough rank in JEE Mains and Advanced to get enrolled in Best IIT colleges."
When Saksham heard this, he smiled bitterly. He forgot that Anitha was even more intelligent than him in studies. So, it really won't be a surprise if she clears JEE Mains and its second stage, JEE Advance with flying colors, and gets accepted into the best IIT Colleges. While he might pass the first stage of JEE Mains, JEE Advance is not something he was ready for. His purpose for asking this question to Anitha was to get to know where she was going to go after 12th grade so that he could go there too and stay with her all the time. But it turns out, It might just be impossible.
'Don't lose hope Saksham. You have Superpowers. You can do it! You can do it!!'
Saksham cheered himself up. Anitha looked at him with a puzzled look and asked, "What happened? Why do you look so depressed all of a sudden?"
Saksham sighed and said, "It's nothing. Just thought of something depressing."
Anitha was still puzzled but didn't pay much attention to it either. She asked, "Which college are you planning to go?"
Without paying much attention, Saksham said, "Wherever you are thinking of going."
After a second, Saksham suddenly realized what he said and hurriedly looked up and found Anitha looking at him with a smile. This made Saksham become very embarrassed. He wanted to explain but didn't know what to say. So, he just straightened his back and started walking like Macho-man with one hand on his waist, as if holding a sword there.
Saksham looked towards the sky with a dignified look as he said in a thick voice, "As a knight, it is my duty to protect the princess I swore to protect. So, I always have to be with her to guarantee her safety."
Seeing this, Anita's eyes stayed on Saksham for a second as they got wet. But she took a deep breath and hurriedly cleaned her eyes before Saksham could notice. When Saksham looked down, he saw Anitha smiling at him saying, "So, my knight still remembers his promise? I thought he had forgotten it."
Saksham scratched the back of his head and said in a puzzled tone, "Well, I don't know which promise you are talking about."
Anitha suddenly froze for a second as she bowed her head down. The clueless Saksham kept walking forwards without paying much attention to Anitha. He was praising himself in his heart for how brilliantly he handled that embarrassing situation. Before he could offer himself an imaginary Oscar, he suddenly felt pain in his ear. He heard Anitha's soft yet fear-inducing voice gently land in his painful ears, "Oh, it flew away. There was a bug crawling on your ears. Before I could catch it, it flew away."
Feeling the pain increasing with every word Anitha said, Saksham was very close to tears. He said in his heart, "Like I believe that. If that bug has already flown away, why are you still pulling my ears? And first of all, why was there a need to pull an ear to catch a bug?" But this time he was smart enough not to say anything. He understood that he definitely made some mistakes. And only apologies could help him get some relief.
Saksham smiled even uglier than crying as he said, "I am sorry, Anitha! I was just kidding. I remember that promise. I was just teasing you. There is no way I can forget something as important as that."
Anitha looked at the sad puppy eyes of Saksham for a second, before saying lightly, "I don't think it was a joke."
"Ahh! It was my fault. I can't even joke properly. Please release my ears or else I will go deaf. Will you be responsible for me if I go deaf and take care of me?" Saksham cried out.
Hearing what Saksham just said, Anitha was speechless. But she still released his ears. As soon as Saksham saw her release his ear, he jumped 2 meters away from Anitha and caressed his ears. He really wanted to cry now. His whole ear was red like a monkey's butt. And the heat coming off from his ears could definitely cook an egg if put on it.
Looking at his pitiful look, Anitha couldn't help but smile and got closer to Saksham. She gently held his head and brought it towards her. Saksham was about to resist, fearing that she was going to pull his other ear, but he suddenly felt a wet and soft touch on his painful ear. That feeling was fleeting. Before he could indulge in that soft feeling, it disappeared.
This left Saksham at a momentary loss. Then, he suddenly turned to look at Anitha who was caressing his ears gently. He looked at her blankly for a moment. Seeing that gentle and tender look in her eyes, he felt as if there was something in his heart about to burst out at any moment. He didn't know how much time had passed but soon he couldn't feel pain in his ear anymore.
Anitha took her hands off his ear and started to walk again. Saksham was left at the same place like a statue. After taking a few steps forward, she turned back and asked, "Are you coming or not, My Knight?"
Hearing this, Saksham came back to his senses and looked at Anitha with a smile, "Of course, My Princess."
He ran towards her and then started walking again. But this time, none of them said anything the whole way. Soon, they reached Anitha's home. Saksham spent about 2 hours there, talking with Anitha's mother, Sangeeta. When he saw that it was getting late, Saksham said farewell as he came out. Anitha followed him to send him out. As Saksham was about to leave, Anitha said, "I know you can do it. Don't give up!"
Saksham looked at her and suddenly grinned, "Yeah! I will do my best!"
Then, Saksham left with a wide grin on his face. He knew what Anitha was talking about. She was cheering him up to study hard so that they can go to the same College. And for some reason, Saksham felt as if he was filled with immeasurable energy. He started running back home. He couldn't explain how happy he was today.
On his way home, the sun had already gone down as it was winter-time. Though it was not completely night time, as there were still some fleeting rays of the sun at the top of some high-rise buildings. As Saksham was about to reach his home, he suddenly felt something unusual in his surroundings. He stopped and looked towards the place this weird feeling came from. He saw a dark valley. That strange feeling was coming from here.
He started walking towards the dark valley. As he came closer to the dark valley, the strange feeling became stronger. But as there was still no warning from his powers, he went inside. As he entered the dark valley, he suddenly froze as his hands and feet went cold. He saw a giant blob of meat slowly swallowing a human. That blob was bouncing up and down as it swallowed the human. The more Saksham looked at that, the sick he felt in the stomach.
Before Saksham could bend down to puke out his lunch, he heard a gloomy voice, "It is bad to look at other people eating secretly, you know. How about you become his meal too?"
Suddenly, Saksham felt his whole head ringing so hard that he was about to faint. At the same time, he felt the whole world slowing down in front of him and his senses were getting sharper and sharper till they reached a superhuman level. With his heightened senses, he saw that blob of meat had pounced on him with lightning-quick speed. Even with the heightened senses, he felt that the blob of meat was very fast. Saksham's mind went blank as he thought, "Just what the hell is this thing?!"